We’ve been asked more than a few times as to why we don’t sell bats. Our traffic would make us the 4th or 5th largest bat sell site on the internet. For starters, we think it would ruin the objectivity of the reviews. Inventory and manufacturer relationships would take precedence over just giving the facts as we’ve seen and measured them.

As important, the major reason we don’t sell bats is because so many places already do. By our last count 26 places sell, basically, the same set of bats for just about the same price. And, honestly, every couple of weeks there appears to be another.

Here is a working list of baseball and softball online bat vendors. (We only include what we consider vendor sites below. We do not include the manufacturer’s site although they are often very legitimate places to check bat prices. For example, you won’t find Easton.com below.)

You know Amazon. Most of the performance bats they sell on this site via their Prime umbrella are fufilled by companies on this list. However, more and more, Amazon is fulfilling their own performance bat orders. They are the an absolute must check.

What’s the Difference Between These Vendors?

There are a few major factors to consider, aside from price, when buying a bat. They include the return policy and the shipping rates. Most places we link above offer free shipping as long as your bat’s price is over a certain amount. And many offer free returns too as long as the bat has not been opened.

Free Shipping?

Restocking Fee?

A few require a restocking fee and/or require you pay for return shipping. So, be mindful before you pull the trigger.

Amazon’s Effect on the Bat Market

Amazon is it’s own monster. Most of the above major vendors have an Amazon outlet. Not because they want to but because they have to. Selling as a 3rd party vendor under the Amazon Prime umbrella makes for an easy consumer experience, but it eats into vendor margins considerably. Amazon’s pick, pack and ship fee for bats could be more than 15% if you use their storage facility. And at a 40% wholesale margin that bat vendors currently enjoy it is a considerable price to pay.

Major Market Players in the Bat Market

Slugger’s 518 Omaha is a good example of a bat you can find just about anywhere.

For starters, like most markets, the top dogs make up the vast majority of the market. Dicks Sporting Goods and JustBats derive, we’d guess, 50 to 70% of all performance online bat sales. If you throw in the next echelon like baseballexpress.com, closeoutbats.com, cheapbats.com, homerunmoney.com and baseballsavings.com then you’ve likely accounted for near 90% of the online bat market.

Fighting for the scraps are a number of smaller bat sellers you’ve likely never heard of. Yet, due to pricing that manufacturers require they are often offering the same bat for the same price. And when those bats come off of required pricing (called MAP) these are the places to usually get a good deal if you act fast. Please feel free to make a comment if you know of one we did not mention. There are so very many.